Survival of the Fallen Race
by DarkNebula935
Summary: An unknown powerful surge of energy was released upon our world, animals have evolved and are now sentient beings searching to destroy us. The beasts have risen and are now looking to over throw us. War has broken out across the globe, a war for Earth, and now a man who goes by the name Isaac Anderson Ridgewood must survive the magical waste lands that he once called his home
1. Act 1: The Uprising

**Survival of the fallen Race**

**By: Dark Nebula**

**Assisted by: Pegasus Klondike**

**Act 1: Battle for Manhattan**

**Chapter 1: The Uprising**

Isaac trudged his way through the snowy plains of what was once New York City's Central Park. Snow covered the bodies of soldiers, and other various creatures littered the snow, tanks and other vehicles lay unused or are too damaged to be used. looking around the snowy waste, that was once a beautiful park, he could see in the distance an old military tent. Looking up at the dark cloud cover sky larger snowflakes began to make their journey down to Earth. The wind was now beginning to pick up its pace. _There's a blizzard coming,_ He thought, _Guess I'm going have to stay here for the night._ He thought glancing towards the tent.

Flinging the flap open Isaac made his way inside, the wind howling in the night blowing snow all over the interior of the tent. Turning back and zipping it shut Isaac sighed and sat on the ground, taking off his burlap sack. Isaac began to rifle through his belongings. In the end, he pulled out his most beloved possession, his old journal. It didn't look like much, except for an old five subject journal that a kid would probably use for school. But to Isaac it was his life, in this here journal was a story. A story that told of his grand adventure through the American waste, looking at the poorly written title on the top of the page above the margin Isaac smiled, _Survival of the Fallen Race By: Isaac A. Ridgewood._ Looking back down at the rest of the page Isaac began to read...

_You're probably wondering who I am or why I'm recording everything that has been happening. My name is Isaac Ridgewood, I've been writing everything down in this very here journal, I've literally just started doing this. I see no point in this honestly but… Seeing the fact that the world has gone to utter shit, might as well do something to keep my mind occupied…_

_What to write about?_

_Well, I guess I can write about the apocalypse, it all started about a decade ago..._

:[-]:

I was surrounded by darkness, all around me I heard voices, voices of so many different languages. As if I was listening to everyone on Earth speak all at once... I couldn't understand them, except for one... I heard her loud and clear, something divine and desperate it said, _You were warned, do not fight this and it will not hurt you. Live with peace and harmony and you shall be ignored._ with that there was a bright flash of light...

My hand slammed down onto my alarm clock ceasing the annoying ring it was letting off. I groaned and laid up in my bed stretching out my arms, I flung my legs over the side of my bed I began to make my way to my bathroom. Looking into the mirror I ran my hand through my blonde hair which was an utter mess. Turning on my shower I sat back on the toilet waiting for the the shower to heat up.

I stepped into the shower, only to be greeted by a wave of excruciatingly hot water,

"Ah! God dammit!" I lunged for the knob and twisted it all the way to cool. Seconds later my body was being pounded by beats of lukewarm water. I sighed with relief and began my everyday morning routine.

After my shower I made my way to the kitchen where I then began to look for something to eat. Opening my freezer I realized I had no more waffles, disappointed I closed my freezer and walked towards my pantry. Opening it I found out that I'm also out of cereal, "Aw, come on this just ain't fair." Slamming the pantry shut I grabbed a loaf of bread and slammed two slices of bread into the toaster. I made my way to the fridge going to grab some jelly I opened the fridge to find that I was also out of jelly. Now angry I slammed the fridge shut, before walking away I found a note on the fridge a note I wrote the day before I went to work.

"Don't forget to go to the store... God Dammit!" I was furious with myself also I felt like a pure idiot. Behind me the toaster dinged and the toast popped up, "I bet I'm out peanut butter too." I spoke out loud. Reaching my pantry once again I opened but this time finding I do in fact have peanut butter. "Aw... The treat of the Gods." I said reaching up to retrieve the peanut butter. Upon grabbing it I noticed something was wrong, it was light, too light. Opening the jar I peeked inside, "Mother Fucker!" I whipped the empty jar of peanut butter at the garbage can, and surprised myself when the empty jar dunked in like an NCAA free throw. I grabbed my bare slices of toast and went to my living room to watch T.V and goof off on my laptop.

"Atmospheric Administration is reporting an odd rise in electromagnetism in the lower atmosphere-" I clicked the next button on the T.V Remote.

"Boring."

"There has been recent thunderstorms along the western coast causing some types of Electromagnetic pulse interfering with smaller electronic devices such as cell-phones-" I clicked again.

"Not interested, oh look, politics." I said leaning forward. I never really cared for politics that much, but sometimes I just find some of their political disputes rather amusing. I know it's weird watching politicians just constantly argue with each other to me though it's like sitting down and watching a rerun of Friends. To think that some people padded their bank accounts with millions of dollars a year just for shouting their opinion at someone with an opposing opinion always made me a touch envious of the societal useless political analyst.

" just listen to yourself, lower our budget for the military!? That's just flat out ludicrous, you're practically opening our doors and allowing other countries to come in and attack!" The Politician on the right ranted. The man on the left simple just stared and listened occasionally nodding his head,

" it's not about weakness, it's about showing our trust to our enemies showing the we have no need for quarrel or bloodshed. Also if we lower our military budget just think of the economic boost. In just a matter of a few years America can be out of the red and back in the black."

I chuckled to myself, "I see what you did there you wannabe poet."

"Well that still doesn't give you the right to crap all over our 2nd amendment rights! You guys up in congress are going against our very own constitution!" The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "They went too far with those gun control laws! That's just straight tyranny, what if your little "lower the military budget" gets us attacked. None of the American citizens will be able to defend themselves." I nod my head,

"I see where you're getting at here ..." My watch began to frantically beep. Tilting my head slightly downwards to look at my watch it was time for me to get ready for work. Heading to my room I undressed from my casual wear and got into my work attire. Fixing my tie I began heading back to living room, while passing by my employee of the month plaque. I stopped and looked down at it,

"Isaac A. Ridgewood Employee of the month. Heh... I'm still surprised I even got that reward." While walking out of my apartment I turned off my T.V.

:[-]:

Opening the door to my station wagon, I found my keys were still in the ignition. "So that's where they friggin went!" With a frustrated growl I stepped into the car. Turning the key, the old Plymouth painstakingly roared to life, and with a few checks of the mirror I backed out of the parking space and began making my way to work.

While waiting at a red light I decided to check my wallet for how much money I had. Pawing through my wallet while keeping one eye on the light was a task that I had managed to master through years of practice, and just like I had done everyday, I hopefully searched through my billfold, hoping the cash fairy had been merciful. But to my disappointment, I didn't have enough to hit the grocery after work. "Thirty two dollars and sixty three cents... I'm going to need to stop at the bank." A few minutes passed and I pulled into the parking lot of Apple Bank. To my surprise the place was packed with people, dozens of men and women in formal wear and even just normal lower-middle class peons like myself. All crowded the bank a line that stretched all the way right outside the door. "What the Hell is going on?" Barely fitting the station wagon in between two taxicabs I got out and made my way inside.

"Please, I just need everything in my savings!" said the man up at the teller's desk.

"Yeah me too!" shouted a woman, all around me more people began shout all requesting they get all their money out. I raised an eyebrow gently pushing people out of my way I began heading towards the ATM machine. Pulling out my credit card I slid it into the machine and began getting to work, noticing that everyone else was taking out all their money. I began to worry so I decided to jump on the band wagon and take out the rest of my college funds.

Leaving the bank I looked over to a nearby grassy clearing, in that clearing laid a bunch of people most of them young adults all held hands as they gathered in prayer. "Is this like the beginning of the end of the world or something?" I asked no one in particular.

"The end is near! Brothers, sisters, gather around! Gather around as we make our final prayers to our faithful lord!" preached the preacher who stood in the center of the small crowd of people who gathered in prayer.

"Okay, this is just too weird." Turning to leave a man who looked to be hobo ran into me. "Whoa! Man chill out-" I turned to leave but the man reached out and grasped me on the wrist. "Hey let go!"

The bum lifted a finger to his lips. "Shh-shhh! Listen to me fella, you seem to be trustworthy, just hear me out. It's coming tonight!" The man stared at me, his brown eyes were stern and serious. He wore a torn up old green hoody, his jeans bore large holes on his knees, through his thick grey beard I saw he was frowning.

"Get your hands off me you old lunatic!" I tried to pull away, but the man's grasp seemed to only get tighter.

"_For in which the second wave,_

_go down below to find the way,_

_stay away from the wretched bay,_

_for deep within the Kraken lays._

_But remember to stay within the light,_

_if not you will fall prey to the dwellers_

_of the night."_

I stared at the crazed man who just recited one of the worst poems I have ever heard. After a few moments of silence the man released my hand. Right after he let go I cocked my arm back and punched the psycho in the face. The man crumpled to the ground clutching his nose, "You fucking lunatic." I said, walking back to my station wagon.

What the hell was that all about? Was trying to warn me or something? What did he mean that it was coming tonight? Ah, who cares, probably just some old drunk...

I glanced around at the growing displays of prayer, of people making bank rushes that would almost surely make the markets take a Black Tuesday dive. Maybe they were onto something. Shit, maybe the world was coming to an end.

:[-]:

On my way to work I received a call from my parents, "Hello?" I answered while pulling into the parking garage.

"Hello Isaac." replied my very cheerful mother, "I'm just calling to make sure you're still coming down this weekend." Muffling the phone I cursed, I completely forgot about our get together plans! Taking my hand away from the phone I replied,

"Yeah, I'll come over this weekend. But could we maybe extend to Sunday instead of Saturday?" I asked, my parents live down over in Bluffton, Ohio. In a small cottage like house by the woods, very nice place especially the small pond full of all kinds of wonderful fish.

"Of course we can, how about your brother Kyle? Is he going to be able come down too?" Finally finding a parking space by the elevator I parked the car. Getting out I answered,

"I don't know Mom, I'll stop by his apartment after I finish shopping. But Mom, I'm afraid I'm going to have to go, I just arrived at work and I have a ton of paperwork to catch up on. Maybe we can catch up later or even this weekend." I pushed the call button on the elevator seconds later it dinged and the two sliding doors parted.

"Well, okay but before you hang up there's one last important thing I should tell you." She said her once cheerful voice leaving.

"Eh... What's that?" I asked.

"You remember Scratchy right?" Scratchy is my childhood dog I grew up with, he's more like a best friend then a pet.

"Yeah why? Don't tell me he didn't pass-"

"No no no Scratchy's okay... Well I think he is, he's been acting quite strange lately." Hitting the sixth floor button on the elevator the doors slid shut and I began my ascend upwards.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked growing uneasy. My Mother sighed

"He's been growing more aggressive lately, well rebellious is the right term to use. He bit Michael earlier today just because he told him to get off the couch." Michael was my father's name. And it hardly surprised me that Scratchy took a snap at him, the old man was never too gentle with my dog.

"What Scratchy would never do that he is the kindest Labrador I've ever known!" I said the sliding doors came apart and I proceeded down the hallway. "Well Mom I have to go now, bye!" I hung up the phone and placed it in my back pocket.

"Your Mother making sure you packed your lunch?" My colleague Eric asked sarcastically.

"Stuff it, Eric!" I growled.

"Whoa, just kidding, just kidding." He raised his hands in defense.

"So how's your day going?" he asked.

"Well, despite having bland toast, watching politicians scream at each other, being stuck in traffic for almost two hours, having to push through crowds of people, and get scared shitless by a hobo. Life is going pretty good." I said stopping at the coffee dispenser.

"That's New York for you." He said raising his freshly poured cup of joe.

"There's more to it than that." I said taking a sip.

"Huh? Like what."

"The hobo who stopped me gave me some sort of warning. He said I seemed trustworthy and it comes tonight."

"What was the warning?" Eric said adding more sugar to his coffee.

"_For in which the second wave,_

_go down below to find the way,_

_stay away from the wretched bay,_

_for deep within the Kraken lays._

_But remember to stay within the light,_

_if not you will fall prey to the dwellers_

_of the night."_

I recited the poem, even though it sucked it was quite catchy, very hard to get out of your head.

"Wow, really? That shitty poem was a warning?" Eric half laughed. "Probably some old drunk."

"I also saw a mass group of people in prayer, the preacher was shouting that the end is near."

Eric sighed, "Ah... Religion. Honestly, I see nothing strange about that at all. Remember Harold Camping, that crazy ass radio show guy who said the world was going to end two years ago? And what about those Heaven's Gate guys who all killed themselves because they missed their cosmic cab or whatever it was?"

"What about it?" I asked.

Eric shook his head, "Nothing." Eric was never really a believer, well I shouldn't really judge at times I had my doubts, but still even to this day I still believe in some type of superior entity.

"Ridgewood, get over here! Tenpenny, you lazy piece of shit, go get to work! I need those papers by Thursday!"

"But Mr Preston, today is Thursday," Eric pointed out.

"Exactly! Now get to fucking work!"

"Yes sir, Sergeant Preston." Eric scratched the back of his neck and left. My English boss approached me pinching the bridge of his nose. He growled,

"I can't wait to fire that no for good piece of garbage."

"Sir, I believe the way you're supposed to say that insult is that no good piece of trash." I said sarcastically. Preston shook his head.

"Oh just shut up," he snarled. " Well anyways I need those car reports by the end of Friday."

"I thought you didn't need them till next week!" I said almost choking on my coffee.

"Well I changed the fucking due date okay!" he snapped. I wanted to throw something right now. Partially because of the stiff-lipped bastard breathing down my neck every moment of my work day, partially because of my laziness in the office.

"Now I need you to work your hardest today okay. You're hard workmanship is the reason why I assigned you this task." Hard Workmanship!? I don't work hard I just like to get my work done so I can play Tetris on the computer for the rest of the day!

I sighed and placed my coffee cup back on the table, "Fine, I'll get to work now." I said. Preston smiled placing a hand on my shoulder he said,

"I knew I could always count on you Ridgewood."

"Please sir, just call me Isaac." Preston grinned.

"Alright, Isaac, now get your arse in there and make me a happy man!" God I swear that man treats me as if I'm his son.

"Alright see you later Mr Preston." I turned and made my way to my cubicle.

:[-]:

I sighed and laid back in my chair, finally after countless hours of work I have finally completed half of the papers that I need to finish by tomorrow. Lifting up my arm I checked to see what time it was, "11:25, I got about about twenty minutes until need to get home. I'll finish the rest of the pages tomorrow." Leaning forward I began playing a few rounds of Tetris on the computer, after about a good ten minutes my phone began going berserk playing _Carry on my Wayword Son_

Grabbing my phone and checking the caller I.D., I smiled. It was my friend Andrew, a man who always had some kind of story to tell about his most recent exploits and conquests. "Hello?" I answered.

"Bro! Get your ass down to the club immediately!" Andrew said while trying to hold back a laugh.

"Sorry man, I'm stuck at work," I said "Why are you laughing so hard, did I miss something?"

"You know that bitch Angela Reaves right?"

"Yeah, she's that slut from High School," I said going back to my Tetris game.

"Well her and a group of her friends came to the club about a minute ago, and they started ragging on Chris and his girlfriend. Well apparently Angela got the bright idea to call Britney a whore, and no one fucks with Britney, at least not after a few minutes ago. Because Britney stood up and took Angela's drink and dumped right over her head. Dude, you should have seen the look on her face, just straight up humiliation!" Andrew laughed

"Hah! Well the bitch deserved it. No one messes with Chris and his girlfriend," I replied, taking a slow sip of my coffee.

"See man and that's the thing. Chris did nothing! He just sat there and took every blow. It was Britney who stood up for him and herself. See man, me and you need to have a talk with Chris, we gotta show that boy that he needs to learn how to stick up for himself. But also not just for himself we need to also teach him how to stand up to-" A loud explosion erupted from the other line. "What the!? What the FUCK IS-" The phone line cut out. Pausing my Tetris game I brought the phone away from my ear and stared at the screen.

_Connection Disrupted..._

"What the Hell, that's impossible. This place's Wi-Fi shouldn't be disrupted!" Seconds later a large explosion caught my ears as a wave of green force shattered the building's windows flinging me out of my chair, all lights and electronics going out all at once. "Jesus Christ!" scrambling to my feet I stared out the shattered windows staring out into the dark city of New York.

No lights, all cars were shut off, and for once the city was actually silent. Behind me my colleagues approached the windows. Every single one of muttering to each other, others began pulling out their cell phones just to find out that none of them work.

"Was it a power surge?" Asked Eric who came up right next to me,

"I don't think a power surge would cause explosions and a shock wave of that magnitude," I said turning back into my cubicle and retrieving my jacket.

"Maybe it was a power plant or something exploding." Says a woman in the back,

"I doubt it." I said pulling on my jacket; the lights came back on seconds later, Everyone's attention turned the ceiling looks of confusion crossing their faces. "What the Hell? They got the power on that fast, must be world record or something," I muttered to myself while flipping my phone back on I realized I still couldn't get a connection. Shoving the phone back into my jacket in frustration I began to make my way to the elevator.

Passing by the break room, I was stopped by the television screen, "We've just received reports of domestic household pets going completely berserk after the recent power outage we just had. Also animals in the Bronx Zoo have also gone ballistic; turning on the zookeepers and owners." I stared at the television screen raising an eyebrow.

"What in God's name is happening?"

"Police forces and Animal Control have been called in to deal with the animals," Just outside I could hear the faint sound of howling and what sounded like bestial screams coming from the streets.

.

"W… Wait second folks." A man from off camera hands the anchor man a few papers. "I just received even more reports that the Police and Animal Control are having difficulty containing the feral animals." Without any thought I turned away from the T.V and continued my way to the elevator.

About a good ten minutes later I reached the parking garage, I ran to my station wagon. After flinging open the door I stepped in and began looking for my keys. "Come on where the Hell did I put those damn things!?" I patted down my clothes but no luck I kicked the bottom of the dash boarded. I stopped my frustration at the sound of jingling keys, looking down I realized I still had my keys in the ignition all day long. Thank God though the car was still off from when I arrived today. 'I really need to stop leaving my keys in the car.' I thought turning the keys the engine roared to life.

I swerved my way through the streets of Manhattan. The streets were packed with panicked people and crazed animals. What the Hell is going on! Reaching down I activated my radio,

"We keep receiving news reports on about regular household animals are going insane and attacking owners and everyone in sight. We've also received reports of exotic animals breaching their cages and are now running rampant around the southern parts of the Bronx and the upper parts of Manhattan " The reporter said.

"I already know that! Tell me something I don't know dammit!" I cursed swerving past another a person this time barely hitting them. I was stopped by a police barricade at the end of the road,

"All civilians please stay indoors! I repeat please stay indoors!" A cop said through the megaphone. Another officer approached my vehicle he tapped on my window requesting me to roll it down.

"Sir I'm afraid that you are going to have to clear the streets." he stated.

"But officer my house is just a few blocks away." I said. The cop raised an eyebrow,

"You mean by Central Park?" He asked I nodded my head.

"I'm sorry son but Central Park and the surrounding areas are a battle ground. I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you to turn around now before…" A large grey wolf tackled the officer to the ground and began to maul at his face. "Get it off me get it off me!" He cried. The other cops at the barricade turned to see their comrade pinned to the ground while being mauled to death. Quickly they drew out their guns and began popping off shots, above me I heard the sound of compressed metal popping. Looking up I saw the the ceiling of the car was being pushed down by something. Right away fear took over, I brought the car in reverse and began going back down the road. Putting the car back into drive I did a 180 degree turn flinging whatever was on top of the station wagon off.

The wolf flew off my car like a rag doll smacking the ground with a sickening thud. It howled and yelped in pain, "You mother fucker!" I slammed my right foot on the gas pedal as hard as I could speeding my way towards the crazed creature. There was one last yelp of pain as my car bounced upwards while I went over it.

Alright, I can't get to my house, but there is one more place I can go to, to seek refuge. My brother he lives in southern part of Manhattan, but it's the only other place I have in plan.

On my way there I constantly ran into road block after road block, each one getting overrun by animals. As I was driving my phone rang to my surprise I actually jumped not because I wasn't expecting a call. Quickly my hand flung to my jacket I brought it out. The Caller I.D. had my brothers name on it: Kyle. I answered the phone, "Thank God, Kyle I'm on my way to your apartment right now!"

"Isaac! Please get here quickly, I hear something outside, it's trying to get in here-" A loud bang erupted in the background "Son of a -" The phone cut out again.

I parked outside the apartment complex and quickly made my way up the front steps towards the lobby doors. Around me cries of animals filled the sky it sounded like a jungle out here. Except for the fact that this jungle was made of concrete and metal, I kicked open the door to the lobby. Seeing that no one was at the front desk I guess he or she must've left one shit hit the fan. I ran to the elevator hitting the call button I realized it was out of service. I slammed my hand against the door in anger, "They said they would fix this a week ago!" I turned away from the elevator and made my way to the stairs.

I made my way up the steps by two, luckily my brother only lives on the third floor and not the fifth. I ran down the corridor searching for his room "Come one 123 A, 123 A" I told myself. "Ah HA!" I said at the sight of my brothers apartments torn down door. In the middle of the room laid a Rottweiler with a splintered piece wood lodged in its windpipe. I covered my mouth at the brutal sight "Kyle," I called out. "Kyle, where are you?" a low moan admitted from the bathroom at the other end of the room. A small trail of blood also led towards the bathroom. "Oh no... Kyle!" I hopped over the dead mutt and ran to the bathroom. "Kyle!" I jiggled the door knob. He must've locked it when he went in there, "Kyle! Oh God Oh God! Kyle! Please don't be dead oh God please don't be dead!" Fear began to overwhelm me, I began to ram the door with my shoulder. After three rams the door gave way and I stumbled into the bathroom. Blood coated the white tiled floor, leaning up against the bathtub laid my older brother. He was obviously passed out, his right hand clutching the upper part of left shoulder. Blood painted his entire hand his once white polo was now crimson.

His eyes slowly opened, and Kyle took a belabored breath. "Ike... I'm sorry," is all he said before his eyes fluttered shut and he slipped into unconsciousness.

"No! I'm taking you to a hospital right now!" I gently made my way to Kyle, lifting his right arm I laced it around the back of my neck. Raising him off the ground, he released another groan. His own blood began dripping onto me ruining my jacket. But right then, I could have cared less. "Come on Kyle, you're gonna have to work with me here."

New York was in utter chaos, animals roamed freely ranging from tigers, lions, dogs, I even saw an elephant ram a patrol car, flipping it over and scattering the police that had been using it as a barricade. I sped down the packed streets with my wounded brother by my side. His bleeding was severe, just by visually seeing him you can tell he lost a lot of blood. His skin was a pale white, and getting paler with each passing moment and each drop of lost lifeblood. "Kyle, hang in there buddy we're almost there... Kyle? Come on man answer me." Kyle let out a faint raspy moan. I reached over and grasped my brother on the shoulder, "We're gonna get you all patched up man. Just gotta stay with me... Jesus Christ!" I slammed on the breaks at the sight of a rhinoceros ramming a bus. The rhino turned looking over at us, he let out an angry snort and began pawing his right foreleg on the ground, preparing to charge at us. I placed the car in reverse and began driving backwards blindly. The living tank snorted heavily, thundering down the street towards my pathetic excuse for a getaway. At first we were fine, gaining more and more speed. The old Plymouth may not have had the power of a rhinoceros, but for an older car it still had the speed of a cat. We were gradually getting farther away until I slammed into another parked car. "Oh no, no, no!" I yelled, cursing under my breath. I put the car back into drive but it wouldn't move. "Now is not the time to stall!" I roared at the car. The rhino continued to charge down the desecrated street, batting parked cars out the way with each swing of its mighty head.

"Isaac..." Kyle groaned. "I'm sorry." I looked at him in disbelief.

"No..." I said. I reached over planting both hands on him I pulled him towards me opening my side door I dragged him out of the car. "I'm getting us out of here no matter what!" Despite his moans of pain from his grievous wounds, I pulled Kyle as quickly and as hard as I dared towards any kind of cover that would stop such an unstoppable mountain of rage. "It's not going to end like this!"

And when I said that, I could only remember the warnings that I had seen throughout the day. The prayer circles, the paranoia, how everyone had been ranting about the end of the world. And with that wave of light, perhaps it had flipped Lucifer's switch and kick started Armageddon. Even if this was just some kind of freak zoo escape, it was the end for me.

I clutched Kyle to my chest, hoping to at least die with my family.

But the thundering mountain of death did not come. I turned to see the rhino stopped in the middle of the street. "What the..." But it wasn't the rhino that had confused me the most. Looking down, I realized something was standing in between us. A small quadruped, no bigger than a child, about four feet in height. It was looking at the rhinoceros, seeming to stare down the lumbering beast without fear. Every now and again it would bob its head, as if it were communicating with it. The small horse-like creature turned to me and my brother, and I could truly see why the rhino had stopped in its charge. It looked like something a young girl would imagine up, with a coat of bright colors, a strange mark on its hip, and a garish mane. But what struck me like a fist was when the creature looked me in the eye.

Those eyes, they were nothing like the eyes of a dumb animal. There shined something in those blue-hued eyes, a certain intellect and understanding. A spark of inner fire that just did not shine in the eyes of wild beasts. When that horse-creature looked me in the eye, I saw a soul.

It stared at us for a moment, then it turned back to the rhinoceros. With a nod of the horse's brightly colored head, the rhino grunted and slowly turned away from us. Taking one more look back at us, the horse nodded before cantering off with its companion. "What the Hell just happened?" I stammered.

If this was the End of Days, then God must have a fucked up sense of righteous fury.


	2. Mobilization

**Chapter 2: Mobilization**

After a good twenty minute walk, Kyle and I hadn't come across any more trouble. We reached Gracie Square Hospital, and it wasn't a pretty sight. Civilians and police officers were arriving in droves, some wounded or bringing in their wounded friends or family members. I slowly made my way up the steps of the hospital followed by dozens of others.

Hospital staff rushed through the lobby, nurses checking on patients that weren't already being treated to by the doctors. Others such as secretaries were taking the names of individuals who had to wait.

"Next!" shouted the secretary, I approached the desk my brother still in my arms. The African American woman sat back in her chair looking over her clip board. Not even bothering to look up at me. She slapped down a information paper in front of me, "I'm going to need your name, birthday, and any medical history."

"I'm sorry ma'am but my brother needs a immediate medical attention." I said in a rush. The women still didn't look up at me,

"I'm sorry sir but all individuals must go through the paperwork before getting consulted by a doctor. Next!" I slammed my right hand on the table in frustration,

"No!" I yelled, "My brother's dying right now, and all you do is tell me to go fill out some fucking useless medical forums!" The women looked up at me obviously by her expression she is really stressed out right now.

"I'm sorry sir but you're not the only that has told me that today. Now please go take a seat." The women remarked. Pissed off I snatched the paperwork off the desk, looking around the lobby. I saw dozens of people, maybe even a hundred or so. If not all most of them had some sort of injury ranging from broken arms, to gash marks and deep cuts. Reaching to my right to retrieve the pen on the table, I found a nearby seat and got to work.

"Do you mind if I take a look at him?" asked a woman in front of me. Looking up I saw a nurse, dressed in her uniform she was coaxed in blood. Looks like she just got back from doing surgery.

"Th-that would be great!" I said, finally some light is being shined on my day. The nurse crouched down in front of my brother.

"What caused his injury?" she asked.

"A bite from a Rottweiler," I said. Reaching over she placed her hand on his eye. Spreading apart his eyelids, she flashed a small penlight into his eye.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm checking for pupil dilation, if his pupil shrinks in the light, he's just unconscious, at worst in shock." The nurse turned away from his eyes and carefully peeled the blood-stained shirt away from his wound. The wound looked ugly enough to me, but to her, it seemed satisfactory. "No signs of infection. Thank god no signs of rabies," she said.

"Is that what you think caused all of this?" I said.

"It's a possibility," she replied with a despondent shrug. "But right now the chances of it being rabies are really low. The vets at the zoo have to test the animals there for rabies bi-monthly, and an outbreak wouldn't be this quick. And it wouldn't spread to every pet in the city without at least a few of their owners getting infected." We sat in there for in a moment of silence, save for the sound of crying children and the groans of the wounded. Looking away from my brother I looked over at the entrance of the hospital, there stood three soldiers, National Guardsmen to be exact. Two in which looked to be lower ranks talking to their commander or something.

Is it that bad? That they need to actually call in the military? "How long have the weekend soldiers been here?" I asked the nurse.

She glanced over to the three armed men at the door. "They arrived here about a few hours ago, about forty minutes after the power surge. Whatever is going on, I have a feeling that the government might have something to do with it."

"They aren't telling you anything?" I asked. She shook her head reaching over and grabbing a thing of wipes she began to clean up Kyle.

"No, they just tell me to go back to what I'm doing, or they just say that's classified." For the rest of the time she worked in silence. I sighed, scribbling down what I knew of Kyle's medical information and insurance.

"Well I've managed to stop his bleeding. What about you? Anything I can help with?" she asked.

I gave her a tired smile, but I shook my head. "All this crude paper is finished." I said capping the pen.

"I'll take that from you," she gingerly took the papers out of my hand.

I sighed, "I'm afraid I never got your name." The nurse smiled to me.

"I'm Nurse Cares, but you can just call me Sarah." She stuck out her right hand.

Which I kindly took. "Isaac, Isaac Ridgewood." I said.

"Isaac, huh? That's a name I haven't heard in awhile. Well, the Doctor will be with you shortly, Isaac." With that Sarah left to go tend to other wounded. I sat back in my chair and closed my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief and foolishly believing that perhaps the worst of this horrific night was over.

:[-]:

"Get everyone out of here right now!" A soldier shouted, gunshots ringing throughout the hospital. My eyes instantly shot open my heart racing faster than ever, my ears rang at the sound of the rapid fire shots coming from the soldier's carbines. Screams of civilians erupted inside the hospital and the began to run from whatever was attacking, I instinctively looked to my left to find that Kyle has gone missing!

Did he run off when the chaos started? No, he wouldn't leave me behind like this! Also he was wounded and had a large amount of blood loss he wouldn't have been able to move. At least not until he got some medical attention and some proper bed rest. I heard a scream of a soldier next thing I knew I was being propelled to the ground. On top of me laid an unconscious soldier with a shattered left arm. Pushing him off me I heard a loud roar and the sound of something beating its chest.

"Come at me you damn dirty ape- ARRGH!" Above me another National Guard soldier was thrown. This one slammed into the nearby white wall, for a moment I laid there not knowing if I should get up and run or lay here and wait for whatever was in here to leave.

A deep laugh erupted near the entrance of the hospital, "Puny humans think they can defeat the strong and powerful Kuntchra!" Kuntchra? What the Hell is a Kuntchra? I thought a large shadow casted over me. What the Hell? "Huh? What do we have here? A sleepy human?" Above me was about a five foot tall silver back gorilla, who beared two large masculine arms. Was he the one that just spoke? Impossible! Animals can't speak they don't have the right types of vocal cords that would allow them to speak!

The soldier to my right moaned in pain, "Oh hohoho, it seems the little human is in pain. Here let Kuntchra help you..." Grabbing the soldier by the bottom of his chin the large Gorilla lifted him up off the ground.

"Kuntchra!" yelled a female voice, "We are not here to kill the humans, only to plunder."

The huge ape groaned. "Aww, but he attacked me with his thunder weapon. Look, he sliced a bit of my fur." The gorilla complained, patting a small wound on his muscled forearm.

"Think of the Great Mother, Kuntchra. Do you think she would be pleased with you if you killed that defenseless demon? If you kill the defenseless ones, you become no better than they are!" Oh great now we're being called demons. The gorilla groaned in disappointment tossing down the soldier he let out a cry of pain when he landed on his shattered arm.

"You ponies never let us Primates have fun." Ponies? What the Hell is going on? Is this some type of animal revolt or something? This literally feels like I'm in a A Planet of the Apes movie or something. The gorilla sighed, turning away and heading away with the pony. I laid there in a few moments of silence. Not daring to move single muscle, as if I move a single millimeter I would die.

I need to find Kyle; the doctors must've taken him away for check up while I was asleep. After another few moments of silence I slowly began to climb to my feet, looking around the lobby I noticed how much of a mess it was. Bodies of soldiers and some civilians laid scattered across the floor. At first I feared the worst, I thought they were dead but after another glance I realized they were all unconscious. With a sigh of relief I made my way over the sea of toppled over desks and chairs.

I was heading towards the double doors in the back of the room. That's where they must've taken Kyle, opening the doors just like the lobby this place was a mess. Doctors and nurses laid on the ground injured and unconscious. On the floor in front of me laid a soldier quickly I tried to hold back the urge barth up my breakfast.

The National Guard who laid in front me was dead; his skull had been cracked open by what seemed to be a metal pole which lay next to him. By his side though laid a nine millimeter pistol, leaning down I picked up the handgun. I never held a gun before, well not a real one, I don't even know how use a gun correctly; I didn't even like those god-awful shooting games that seemed to be all the rage. Well I'd better learn fast, there is no way I'm ending up like this poor bastard. Nervously placing my hand on the trigger, I stalked down the hallway, the barrel of my new weapon leading the way.

Room after room proved to be empty, and I searched for my brother but to no luck. The still silence of this place was chilling, and though there were living people all around me, I felt like this was some kind of horror movie. "Dammit Kyle where are you?" I hissed opening another door and peeking into the patient room, empty! Why are they all fucking empty! Did everyone just get up and leave! I highly doubt it! I pulled the door shut harder than I intended.

"Did you hear that?" An unfamiliar voice said up ahead. Quickly I jumped to the nearest janitor's closet. Opening it I slid through the crack in the door and quietly pulled it shut, the sounds of footsteps no it sounds more like a horse walking on marble... What in God's name!

Slightly leaving the door ajar I peered through the small crack, two horses... no, ponies came into view. Just like the one back in the streets they had a colorful coat and a mark on their rears. The thing though that bewildered me the most was their eyes from a distance they seemed normal but up close. The sheer size of them is just astonishing!

The two ponies looked around the hallway not even bothering to step over the bodies, the two just walked all over them as if they were some sort of carpet. The expressions on the doctors and nurses faces when they were stepped on angered me. Raising the nine millimeter, I prepared myself mentally to attack. I aimed the barrel right outside the door. Slowly my finger squeezed the trigger.

_I wouldn't do that if I were you..._

I flinched at the sound of the other voice. Spinning around quickly I took my eye off the two ponies. Looking around the janitor's closet I realized no one else was in here except for me.

"Who are you!?" I hissed "Show yourself!" I aimed the gun blindly around the dark closet.

"It was probably our imagination." Said one of the ponies outside, turning my attention back out in the hallway, I saw the two ponies turn around and head back down the hallway. Looking around again to who spoke to me I saw that there wasn't anyone,

"I must be going insane..." I whispered. Stepping back out into the hallway, I began to make my way to elevator. Obviously my brother wasn't on this floor maybe if I can reach the elevator I could-

"You there, halt!" My heart stopped for second, turning around I saw three ponies looking at me. What's with all these freaking ponies! This place is just crawling with them! The pony in the middle approached me, come on me it's just a horse just take a few steps back and make a beeline to the elevator. The pony raised it's hoof,

"Commander Flame, it's just one demon let it go it won't cause any harm." The pony in back said she being able to tell by its voice was red and had a black mane. "Just look at it, it's weak and doesn't even have a weapon there is no point in-" I raised the nine millimeter and fired off a shot into the air. The recoil vibrating my entire arm the shot causing my ear to ring and pieces of drywall falling onto me from the hole in the ceiling. The three ponies flinched and took a few steps back.

With this diversion I turned and began sprinting down the hallway.

"After him!" shouted the pony in charge.

Come on, come on just a little further. I thought sweat pouring down my face, behind me I heard the sound of hoofs, I was never really the best athlete in high school but dear God was I flying fast down those hallways. Rounding another corner I saw the elevator, my heart leaped with joy.

The elevator dinged, what the Hell?

The door slid open revealing seven soldiers all of them wielding M4-Carbines all weapons raised and trained on me. "United States Marine Corps! Get on the ground now!" Shouted the soldier in the middle.

I flung my hands in the air dropping my gun. "I'm not the enemy!"

"I said get on the fucking ground!" Not wanting to get shot I dove the floor. Above me I heard the rapid fire sounds of seven carbines firing simultaneously. Seconds later I heard three objects hit the floor.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Hostiles down! Fan out inspect any rooms that may contain the enemy!" The sounds of soldiers spreading about inspecting the other patient rooms, in front of me a soldier squatted down, "Alright sir it's safe to get up now." Looking up I saw a middle aged man looking down at me smiling he scratched his beard and stuck his hand out to me. "Captain David A. Steward, commander of the Giant Squadron" I grinned and took his hand pulling me back to my feet David looked around the room. "This place went to shit fast didn't it?" he asked. I nodded my head quickly; glad to see some heavily armed people around who could help me.

"Uh... Captain, what the Hell is going on? Where are all the patients?" I asked. The Marine looked at me and shook his head.

"Son, I don't entirely know, one moment I'm at home with my wife and that random surge of energy struck. About thirty minutes later I have my superiors knocking on my door telling me they need down in Manhattan. As for the patients before the attack on the hospital we evacuated them to Central park for Helicopter Evac."

I took a few steps back running a hand through my hair I sighed at least Kyle was safe, is all I could think of. "Do you think you could escort me there?" I asked looking back towards the captain. The Marine captain nodded.

"That's the reason why we're here, but by the looks of it," Steward looked around at all the unconscious civilians, "It looks as if we're going to need a truck. Private Jenkins, radio HQ and ask for a M939!"

"Long range communication is still down, sir!" the Marine further down the hallway shouted back. Steward cursed under his breath,

"Looks like you're the only one who's going to be tagging along with us for now."

"Cap', we got one that's awake over here!" A Marine said with a slight western accent, he approached us carrying a young nurse in his arms her eyes were slightly open and she was breathing heavily. "It looks as if she was knocked out cold, but she should be okay in few minutes." Looking at the Guardsman I saw a patch on his arm with the Red Cross symbol on it, he must be the medic of this squad. I thought looking back over at the girl I recognized her immediately.

"Sarah!" I said running over to assist the medic.

"You know this girl?" he asked

"Please, just call me Isaac, but yes this is the nurse who helped me and my brother before the attack." I said placing her other arm around my neck.

"Well that's mighty kind of her," he said, "Here, lay her down gently in this chair right here so I can check up on her. Here, take this canteen, there's a water fountain down the hall and to the right. I need you to get some water; can you do that for me, Isaac?" I nodded and took the empty canteen. Before I could leave though the medic shoved a M9 in my hand, "If you see any of those freaks, don't be afraid to shoot any of em. Now go, we evac for Central Park in twenty!"

:[-]:

I slowly made my way down the hallway my gun aimed out in front, the eerie silence be coming just unendurable. My own paranoia creeping up on me, the silence outside was daunting just last night the sounds of chaos were everywhere but now it has been replaced with this silence...

I found the water fountain the man was telling me about, shoving the berretta in my pocket I jogged up to the machine, unscrewing the cap on the canteen. Large dents have been formed in front of the machine and just below laid a cop who I guess was the cause of the dents. Gently dragging the man aside, I held the open end of the canteen under the faucet, and to my surprise the machine still worked. I pushed the button for the water a loud bang came from the machine but no water. I growled to the unresponsive machine and kicked it angrily. The water fountain groaned, and a spurt of water lazily began to dribble out of the faucet. Holding the canteen under the faucet.

But while I was turning around I was stopped by a pony, instinctively I pulled out the M9 and aimed at the pony. "Stay back!" I shouted, the pony tilted its head like a confused dog, her coat was green, and she had some type of tattoo of a shield on her rear. Her green mane was long and flowed down to her back with few yellow streaks. I stared at the pony for a few minutes trying to decipher why hasn't it attacked me yet.

Then, finally it spoke, "Don't fight this."

I flinched, but her voice was calm and soothing like a mother trying to calm her young and frightened child. But nothing could dampen the mind bending thought that a gaudy little horse was speaking to me in fluent English. "Do not fight this, and if you do decide to fight this, you'll surely fail." Then finally it dawned on me, this was the creature that saved Kyle and I the night before.

"Why..." I asked, lowering my gun, "Why did you stop the rhino last night? Why did you stop it from killing us? Why is this happening? What is happening?" The pony looked up at me and said nothing; seconds later she turned and began walking towards the window on the far side of the room. Sunlight seeped through the blinds, and she raised her hind legs and kicked open the window. But before she left, she turned back to me.

And she said to me, "In time, it will all become clear." With that she dove out the window.

:[-]:

"Alright, I got the water." I handed the medic his canteen.

"Thanks," he said, taking the water.

"Did you find anything wrong with her?" I asked, concerned for the nurse who had done so much to help my brother.

"Visible damage is limited to a small gash on the side of her head and some bruises. But she suffered pretty bad head trauma, she could have a concussion." The medic took the water and poured a bit onto a rag, raising it up to her head he gently brushed at the splotches of blood on her face. The medic turned to me. "Isaac, can you part her hair a bit so I can get to the wound?" I nodded, and approached Sarah. I gently grabbed the silky locks of her hair, parting them away from the wound. It was a nasty cut, and small drops of blood still dribbled from her wound, but it was survivable.

"I never did get your name," I said while the medic did his work, gently cleaning her wound. Placing the rag aside he pulled off his backpack and began digging through it,

"I'm Private Nigel J. Rooker," he said while pulling out a med kit. I wanted to offer him a hand to shake, but I knew that Private Rooker wouldn't take it. The medic was in his zone, and if I interrupted him now, it could end up hurting Nurse Cares. Rooker fished a few gauze pads out of his kit, and he dabbed just a little disinfectant on each one, pressing them down on the unconscious nurse's wound.

"Well, thanks for saving me back there Nigel. I guess I owe you a drink after all this is over." The medic nodded to me, engrossed in his duty.

"You're welcome," he said distantly. Private Rooker finished cleaning and dressing the wound, wrapping a roll of gauze around Nurse Cares' cut. Letting out a sigh of relief, Rooker leaned back, having done as much as he could for the nurse. "You know, that was the first time I ever fired my gun," he said. I stared at him, confused. "Well not at a creature at least. See when I first enlisted into the Marines, I was looking to be in the infantry. You know, be on the front lines, get in the action, earn some medals. Well it so turns out I'm really good when it comes to medical shit. That's mostly because my mom was a veterinarian and dad was surgeon. You see, every day when I was little I always asked my father and mother questions about their jobs. Over time these little facts and stories begin to stick with you and never leave you. Well when I took the test to see what position I should be put in for the military. I realized that maybe infantry wasn't my thing. Yeah, I still wanted to on the front lines, but I also wanted to work in the medical field. So I took up being a medic. And here I am, saving lives instead of taking them. Sending people home in a wheelchair instead of a body bag."

"Well it seems you have a nice past, but what does that have to do with you never firing a gun?" Nigel leaned back, throwing away the packaging from the gauze and reaching into his kit for another roll of bandages.

"Well you see, sir-" the Marine medic began.

"Please, just call me Isaac." I hated when people address me like that...

"Alright Isaac, we medics don't really get to fight. We got move in fast get who over is injured and get the Hell out of there. We hardly fight, I've only been on the battlefield three times, counting this." Nigel finished the wrapping the last of the bandages around Sarah's head. "I was sent in with the Giant Squadron to retrieve and treat the survivors here at this hospital-"

"We got hostiles inbound to our position!" Shouted an African American Marine who bolted around the corridor stopping right in front of us.

"Shit! That's impossible, scouts said this area was clear except for the hospital," said Captain Steward. "And we just cleared the damn hospital." The Marine took a deep breath.

"Charlie said he would take the rooftop for lookout in case of any enemy sightings. He spotted a whole freaking swarm of them heading this way." Captain Steward sighed and began rubbing his temples.

"Alright Deshaun go get Charlie and the others, were getting the Hell out of here now!" The Marine nodded his head and sat off to go warn the others. Steward looked at me, his face stern and emotionless. "Alright civi, I need you and Private Rooker there to take that girl and go around back to the parking garage and search for a vehicle we can use."

"What about you, Captain?" Nigel asked while taking Sarah's arm and draping it over his neck.

"Don't worry about me son, I've been in the service for almost twenty years I know what I'm doing. Before you go though, when you get a car come around front and honk three times, if we don't show up in thirty seconds drive to Central Park like a bat outta Hell and warn HQ." Nigel gave the Captain a quick salute and turned to me.

"Okay Isaac, we're going to go as quickly as we can, but as quietly as we can. Enemy forces are likely to be coming at us from all sides, and at any moment I may have to hand her off to you so I can provide suppressing fire. Move from cover to cover, and find a safe spot to hunker down if this turns into firefight. Are you ready for this?" he asked. I nodded my head.

"As long as I get to see my brother by the end of this, yes." Nigel nodded back,

"Alright lets go parking garage is this way."

:[-]:

After a few seconds of walking Nigel decided to break the silence. "So what did you do before all this?" he asked.

"I worked for a insurance company, back in one of the skyscrapers." Nigel smiled while we turned a corner.

"What type of insurance like medical, life,-"

"Car insurance," I quickly replied. I was not overly proud of my career. There were no good stories that one could tell about the workings of a dull, boring automotive insurance office. Nothing that could compare to Nigel, a man who had probably seen the most brutal and bloody side of human conflict in the Middle East. Nor even like Sarah, who single-handedly saved lives every day of the year.

"Oh... Neat." We continued on for a few moments of silence. "So did you have girl?"

"What?" I looked over at him confused.

"You know, a special lady waiting for you outside the city. Maybe a gal that you decided to spend the rest of your life with?" I brought my hand up to silence him.

"I know what you meant; you just caught me off guard. That's all," I replied.

"So... Do you have one?" he reiterated.

I flashed a quick grin, carefully shifting Sarah's arm to a more comfortable place on my shoulder. "Well there was this one girl. We weren't dating or anything we, we more like really good friends." Nigel nodded in understanding.

"So like friends with benefits?"

"Aw! Hell no! I would never do that with a friend of mine!"

Nigel chuckled quietly under his breath. The Marine medic slowed down as we approached another hallway, motioning for me to hold onto Sarah. I shifted the unconscious woman solely onto my shoulder, and Private Rooker rose up his rifle, carefully peering around the corner.

"Okay, the doors are just down this hallway. Now Ike, we need to be as quiet as possible, we don't know what could be in there," he whispered. I nodded to the medic, and he led the way down the hall, sliding back the action on his rifle and chambering a shell. Rooker reached up to his scope, twisting a knob and shooting out a beam of green laser-light that would pinpoint his shots without looking down the scope. We approached a set of double doors at the end of the hall, the bright red lettering above it indicating that this was the entrance to the parking complex.

"So how did you know the parking garage was this way?" I whispered while we slowly approached the door.

"Before I joined the military, this was my hometown. When I was just a kid, my grandma came here, feeling ill and hurting all over. Doctor said it was leukemia, that she didn't have long to live. Almost every day I would come and visit her, and after walking around these halls so many times, you start to learn the layout like the back of your hand." Rooker said quietly. And though I knew he was trying to stay as stealthy as possible, I could see the medic choking up.

"Were you two close?" I asked. Nigel looked over at me before opening the door and nodded.

"She was like a second mother to me; the day she told me she had leukemia and only had a few months to live was probably one of the worst days of my life." Nigel opened the door revealing us to the almost pitch black parking garage.

"Damn, I can barely see." I said.

"Don't worry, I got this." A few seconds passed a blinding ray of light admitted from the tip of Nigel's carbine. "Got a flashlight built on this gun, really comes in handy in situations like-" The sound of gunfire stopped Nigel in mid sentence. "Oh shit, alright we got to work fast find a car preferably one that is big enough to support all of us!"

"Well I can't search if I don't have a light!" I stated Nigel sighed,

"Look in my bag I should have a spare!" Nigel turned his back to me so I could open his bag and look in. Shuffling through his bag was extremely difficult due to the fact I couldn't see shit. The gunfire began grow louder and louder they were probably being pushed back by the enemy. "Come on man we don't have all day!"

"Well it would help if I could actually fucking see!" I retorted. I reached my hand deeper down and I felt my fingers scrape something that was a metal cylinder. Grasping my fingers around It I pulled out an extra flashlight! "Ah ha!" I cheered.

"Alright you take the right side I'll take the left!" I ran towards the right side of the parking garage, searching every car it all wasn't that hard trying to find car. Due to the fact this place was full of cars. It was the matter of fact finding a car that was big enough to support nine people and one you could actually get into which that part was easy because I could just easily break it open.

"Did you find the right car yet!" Nigel called out.

"I didn't know we were looking for a specific type of car!" I yelled back.

"Well obviously I think a truck would be the best, or a van that could work too!"

"Well you should fill me in on everything before getting to work because I just passed three vans and two trucks!" I shouted.

"Well I thought it would be fucking obvious!" I frowned he had a point there. After a few seconds of silence like literally everything gone silent no more gunfire, no sounds of any animals just a creepy eerie silence.

"You hear that?" I called over finding a nice blue Chevy Silverado.

"Hear what?" He replied, "I hear nothing?"

"Exactly... Do you think they're okay?" I asked

"Who knows... Maybe they actually drove the animals back."

"Well anyways come over here I found our ride." I said taking the M9 and bashing the trucks window open. Seconds later Nigel jogged up carrying Sarah on this back,

"Okay good... Do you know how to hotwire a car?" I asked.

"Step aside I got this. But first take the girl and put her in the back." Nigel handed Sarah over to me which I gently took her in my arms. Nigel opened the door stepping in he unlocked the back, allowing me to place Sarah inside while he got to work hotwiring. "Ah! Fucking... Argh!" Nigel cursed.

"What!?" I pulled out my recently acquired pistol, fumbling it around in my hands until I had a firm grip on the strange weapon.

"Just... nothing just shocked myself that's all," he growled, jamming his finger into his mouth to take the edge off.

After a few minutes of trying to hotwire the Chevy's engine roared to life. "Whooo! Alright!" We both cheered.

"Alright let's go get the others!" Nigel slammed on the gas pedal and the truck sped forward. "Alright like Captain Steward said we're going to drive to the front and honk three times if they don't show in thirty seconds we're getting the Hell out of- Oh shit!" A loud roar wracked our ears and the ground literally heaved, as a large full grown African Elephant tore down the aluminum garage doors.

"Turn! Turn!" I shouted grasping the sides of my seat.

"I am I am!" Nigel made sharp right turn, turning out of the way of colossus path as it charged. "Alright we'll just use the southern exit!" The elephant stopped in its charge and turned towards us. It let out a frustrated roar and began to give chase, tipping and flinging cars out of its way.

"Come on we're almost there we just need a little more gas-" I was stopped in mid sentence by a loud bang, last thing I remember of that moment is the car flipping and me blacking out.


	3. Truth Behold

**Chapter 3: The Truth Behold**

My head throbbed, my vision blurred and swayed. My body was sore, what happened? Why am I in so much pain? Why am I not in the truck? I attempted to move my arms but some reason my limbs wouldn't comply, finally trying to focus on my vision I was finally able to comprehend my surroundings. I was in the middle of the street right in front of the southern exit of the hospital. Fire roared all around me, did the military drop a bombshell on us? I tried to move again this time pain flaring through my body, what the fuck why can't I move!?

Tilting my head to the side I realized I was pinned under some rubble, oh this is just fucking great! Using all my strength I attempted to lift the rubble off myself, only being able to push a little bit off me in the process. Screaming in agony I dropped back to the ground, gasping trying to regain my strength, I blacked out...

:[-]:

_Do not give up young one... It is not your time to die._

"What the Hell?" I was in a black void; all around me I heard the voices of people as if I could hear all of humanity. But this time the voices were anger, sad, and scared, "Who are you!? Where am I!?" I shouted into the dark abyss.

_In time, child of man., you shall learn the truth, in time you shall learn the truth of your past..._

"Stop speaking in riddles! Just tell me who you are!" I turned around looking behind myself, I looked to my left, right, up and down, trying to find whoever was speaking to me. "Show yourself!" I commanded.

_I'm afraid I cannot do that just yet._

The voice actually replied to my command, and I could no longer believe that this was some kind of dream. "Why not," I shouted, my voice ringing in the endless void of oblivion. I received no reply this time; instead I heard all the voices around me begin to drift away. A million voices in a million languages blended into one man's voice. A voice that was shouting my name; soon I felt as if I was being pulled at million miles per hour back into the waking world.

My eyes flew open I was back in the middle of the road, still covered in rubble.

"Isaac! Fuck, Isaac answer me!" shouted Rooker. I tried to move but the striking pain in my back returned. All I could do to reply was moan in agony.

"Shit! Isaac you're going to have to figure out a way out of there! I think something blew up a portion of the hospital I don't entirely know what it was but... shit! It did a pretty good fucking job blowing up the place! There's some debris separating us I'll try and figure out a way to get over to you but for now try to seek some shelter. I saw something moving around out there so be careful!" I groaned and tried moving the rubble again this time I succeeded in pushing a large portion of it off my back.

"What about Sarah!" I gasped through the excruciating pain.

"What? You're going to have speak up!"

"What about Nurse Cares?" I shouted out.

"Don't worry, she's fine, she's just slipping in and out of consciousness. But we have to get moving now. Isaac, if you can, get to the evac point in Central Park, see you on the other side!" With that Private Rooker went silent, and I was alone. I gasped in pain as I shifted the rest of the rubble off me.

In the process of removing the rubble something caught my ears. My eyes snapped to the left, to my left laid a pile of rubble and debris. On top of it all some pieces of rubble began rolling off the side as if it was disturbed. Instantly Rooker's warning quickly ran through my mind, I began working my way out even faster ignoring the pain. My heart raced, whatever was out there it was stalking me and I don't like being stalked!

With one final push and cry of pain I threw the last cement block off me, I laid back, finally being able to stretch out all my limbs I sighed with relief. But then another wave of excruciating pain shot through my body. Instantly my hand shot to my side which is what seemed to be the source of my pain, instantly my hand was coated in liquid bringing my hand back to my face to inspect. It was blood... MY BLOOD!

Instantly I felt woozy... I wanted to puke. The world was spinning in a horrible torrent of gut-wrenching agony. The floor felt like it could fall away at any moment, and with the blood freely running down my leg and pooling on the ground, I saw a blur begin to work its way into my vision. I was in shock; I was scared and helpless, like the time when I broke my arm out in woods back at my parent's house in Bluffton. I had the bright idea to try and climb a tree in the woods in the middle of the winter. I made it about twelve feet before I slipped on an icy branch and fell. Breaking my arm when I hit, I was alone and I felt helpless, miles from home with no help and the worst agony I had ever known making me weep like a newborn.

But that day in the forest, I didn't I have anything stalking me. But here, outside the comfort of solid walls, in the middle of an abandoned street in New York, the predators that had haunted mankind's ancient past had once again decided to regain control over our fears, and each shadow could have contained a slavering beast, waiting for me to succumb to my wound. Taunting the instincts that had been born from thousands of generations of being prey to more powerful animals, the beasts that lurked in the shadows made my heart freeze with fear. There was only one option; I needed to get out of here! I decided to attempt to climb to my feet. I started off well but by the time I made it to my knees I instantly crumpled to the ground. Gasping for air, I knew that I could not stay on my feet.

"Okay, walking is out of the question," I gasped in pain. But how about crawling?

I sat there for a few minutes trying to regain my breath my composure, I tried calming myself by telling myself everything is going to be okay. After that I rolled onto my stomach and began to pull myself along the concrete, making a few inches every few minutes before having to stop and rest. Blood seeped out of my open wound causing a small trail of blood to form while I began to move. The pain began to become unbearable for me; sweat began to drip off my face and onto the pavement. I was heading towards the nearby carry out store across the street from the hospital, which by the way is at least thirty to forty yards away.

I stopped at the sound of panting, not my own but something else. This sounded like... "Shit!" I exclaimed. I turned to my right to see three Siberian Wolves all looking at me with hungry looks in their eyes. A surge of adrenaline poured through my veins, and my hand dove into my pocket, seeking out the only weapon I had ever wielded. Thank the lord I still had my M9! Thankfully the gun hadn't been damaged in the blast, and was still loaded with a few rounds. Raising my handgun I readied myself to fire, but I was too slow. The first wolf was on me in seconds, a blur of silver-gray fur that leaped across the gap in a flash of shining fangs and snarls. His long fangs sank into my wrist, and the wolf shook my arm like a rag doll. A stream of my own blood escaped from the wolf's iron-gripped teeth to spray on my face. I screamed in pain as the beast turned me into his personal chew toy, taking the pistol in my other hand, I began to slam the butt of the pistol between its eyes. But unlike any person I had ever seen get pistol-whipped on television, the wolf didn't show any signs of passing out, or even that it noticed my frenzied attack.

Bringing the gun back I jammed it into the wolf's eye and pulled the trigger, the back of its head exploded flinging parts of bone and brain back in a spray of gore that painted the pavement red. The two wolves that had stood back while growled and charged me. I screamed and began firing shots randomly, praying that at least one bullet would strike true.

One bullet zipped by, striking the wolf on the left in his back hind leg sending it head over heels into the ground. I aimed at the final wolf getting ready to pull the trigger but when I did the slider flew back but no bullet came out, only leaving me with a lousy click signaling I'm out of bullets! And for a moment, I cursed Rooker. The man may have given me a gun, but he never gave me an extra magazine!

The wolf sailed through the air, spreading apart its lips to bear all of its dagger-like teeth. And with the adrenaline pumping through my veins, it was as if the world slowed down to a crawl, and I reached for the nearest thing by me that I could use as a weapon. My grasping hand closed around a metal pole, and I turned to face the wolf which was only a few feet away from me. I raised the pole in the air like a spear and planted the other end firmly on the ground. Preparing for the worst I looked away.

_Shunk..._

Blood splattered my face followed by a shriek of pain, but not from me. I opened my eyes above me laid a wolf with metal pole puncturing his chest. Blood gushed from the open wound, the wolf spasmed and shook, sliding down the pole and snapping at my face, trying to end my even in its final moment. Finally, the beast's body went limp. I dropped the makeshift spear causing the wolf to crumple to the ground lying right next to me. Clutching my wounded wrist I sat back watching the wolf that I shot earlier in the back leg climb back onto its other three legs and limp away. Despite how much pain I was in I laughed, I laughed not only because I survived but by the fact that this was the third wolf I killed in the matter of two days.

Isaac A. Ridgewood, Wolf Slayer. It rings like a bell, and it beats the shit out of employee of the month by a long shot!

:[-]:

I don't know how long it took for me to pull myself up to the curb, but when I started, it had been the small hours of the morning, and by the time I made it the sun beat down on my broken body and bruised flesh. Holding back the urge to scream, I rolled onto my back. Panting like a hot dog on a warm summer day, I used my sleeve to wipe the sweat off my head. Cursing, I rolled back onto my stomach and made my way to the doorway of some small corner store, and by the time I crossed the stoop the sun was high in sky. It took me hours to cross that street, now marked by a trail of my own oozing blood, and though I was still bleeding, it wasn't as bad as before.

The corner-store was a mess. It was mostly looted, and trashed as if a tornado ran through there. Whatever shelves remained that weren't bare were full of things that were either inedible or too heavy to easily carry away. Breathing heavily I attempted to climb back up onto my feet, placing my knees on the ground I pushed with all my might. Trying to ignore the pain I reached up and grasped the door for support, more blood began to ooze from my open wound. Gritting my teeth I climbed onto my feet, gasping for breath between the rolling waves of pain. I leaned on the door and tried to catch my breath. After a few moments the pain began to subside, I opened the door and stepped in, making my way through the corner-store I began looking for anything that could help me. I made my way behind the counter, opening shelves and looking for any type of aspirin or something that would help relieve me of this unrelenting pain.

What was I doing? Was it wrong to rifle through someone else's possessions? Was what I was doing considered stealing, though the man who may have worked this counter in days since past, in a world that wasn't topsy-turvy, may now be just a greasy smear on the street thanks to some ravenous monster that had come only a few hours ago? No, it couldn't be stealing. Stealing was something that people did when they merely wanted something. I needed this. I never knew I would stoop that low, but I needed something to relieve me of this pain. After a few minutes of searching I found what I was searching for. Opening the bottle of aspirin I took two tablets and shoved the lid over the bottle, I knew it wouldn't relieve all the pain but it would help.

After searching the rest of the looted corner-store, I filled my stomach with a sumptuous feast of chips and other junk food that they sold there. I was never a man with a complex palate, but right then a meal of cheese Combos and a side of Doritos, and I felt as grateful for the food as I had at any Thanksgiving. The rest I just shoved in my jacket, after that I was on my way to meet up with Nigel and get to Central Park as fast as I could.

:[-]:

The city felt as if it was deserted, empty streets, no one to be seen, quiet save for the few street wars I heard in the distance. The sounds of gunshots and explosions, sounded like a distant war was raging like two armies clashing head on. Even with my nasty wound I kept at a decent pace, climbing over a nearly full block of taxicabs was straining the ragged wound on my side, and I clambered over each derelict vehicle slowly and with no small amount of pained grunts.

I climbed on top of the taxicab overlooking a sea of vehicles that lay before me. Cars that were flung over like children's toys rested on top of each other. Some bodies of unlucky civilians and soldiers laid scattered about. The sight sickened me to the core. These were men and women that I might have known, people that had lives and families. And it made me angry; whatever was going on just didn't seem right. Nothing could have driven these animals over the edge like that, nothing could've given the animals the ability to organize, to mobilize! And most important, nothing could have given them the intelligence that I saw in the eyes of that mare in the hospital, the speech that she so eloquently riddled me with about my fate.

I stepped down off the ruined taxi and made my way through the see of destruction, again as I limped my way through the destroyed street paranoia began to take over. Every few seconds I would glance over my shoulder to see nothing was following me. My hand rested on my gun, even though it wasn't loaded I still held onto it. But no matter how many weapons I could have placed upon my person, I knew that they would not drive away that terrifying insecurity that plagued me, nor fend off the unseen eyes that haunted every street and alley of the broken city.

The sounds of the distant street wars began to grow quiet, just to pick up again moments later. In the distance I heard a loud explosion as the ground literally shook below me causing me to stumble into a nearby car. And moments later I knew the source of that ground-shaking explosion as a jet fighter screamed over the buildings of Manhattan, firing another of its deadly missiles at some other target. Moments later a second explosion erupted and the sound of machine gun fire followed and the screams of soldiers shouting commands.

I needed to get off the street, looking around I found an alley way. Quickly I began to hobble my way over to it, to my right I heard the sound of a horn. Not a car horn though, something you would hear in Lord of the Rings or something. Something that signals a charge... Oh no! Looking to my right I saw a large group of animals, most of them being ponies, but there was also elephants, apes, and an entire pack of big cats.

Above me, another jet screamed in from the horizon, letting loose another missile, colliding with the center of the animal forces. A large ball of fire flew into the sky, obliterating the entire street and everything in it. Chunks of asphalt and pieces of torn flesh rained down from the dusty sky, but the creature force had only been stunned for a moment. Tracer rounds flew over my head, the sounds of tank treads going over cars wracked my ears. The sound of metal being crushed and scraped caused my ears to burn in pain. The line of soldiers wasn't advancing, but the line of creatures down the street was very quickly thundering down the street of broken asphalt. To avoid getting caught between the crossfire of my own people and the rending teeth and claws of the animals, I limped my way down the alleyway as fast as my fresh wound would allow me.

My heart pounded and more blood leaked from my open wound, and with every minute I began to grow weaker due to the lack of blood. My feet began to grow numb and cold and I decided that I very quickly needed to find a safe place to hide until I could walk. I found a nearby hotel to take shelter in, pushing open the back door I made my way through the abandoned halls, hoping to get away from the coming battle which grew louder and louder as the screams of men and animals joined the cacophony of gunfire.

The building shook with each explosion, pieces of the ceiling fell as the very foundation shook in protest. The windows creaked, and moments later the building released a daunting groan. I needed to get out of here right away before the place comes crashing down, I began limping towards the lobby. Cursing with every step the lights began to dim, the groaning becoming louder and louder. Gunshots and the screams of the soldiers began to reach my ears, and instantly I was filled with even greater dread.

We were being beaten back. The creatures' charge had overwhelmed their line, and now the US Army was being beaten back by a bunch of escaped zoo animals and police horses!

Next thing I heard was thunderous bang of tank firing it's main cannon, moments later multiple thunderous bangs followed after. I entered the main lobby, making my way towards the door every step it growing closer my only chance of escape.

But something really unsettling caught me by the ear, the sound of a helicopter's rotors, when it's going down. Next thing I knew that white light that was coming from the doors was overcast by a shadow. A loud bang shook my ears and the ground heaved causing the windows to shatter and pictures to fall off their mantles. A black mass that was outside was growing closer and closer, I attempted to run but I was too late the downed helicopter tore through the main lobbies doors the blades destroying the walls causing the ceiling to cave in itself. The twirling blades of the downed chopper sliced through the steel and wood structure of the building like a hot knife, and I only saved myself from being filleted by ducking down as quickly as I could. The whirring blades of death whistled inches from my head, and ground to a halt as the chopper lost all power and came to a rest against the back wall. I had missed death by a mere inch or two, but I could not dodge the collapsing building that was right above me...

:[-]:

I slowly opened my eyes, which didn't help considering the entire area was dark.

"Am I dead?" I murmured to the darkness.

No, I couldn't be dead, this felt like all the other times I had been on the brink of unconsciousness in the past few days. The air was dusty with debris, and the pain from my wound was real enough. Reaching into my pocket I pulled out my phone, pressing my numb finger against the power button and hoping that it would turn on. Thank God I charged it last night. The light flashed in my eyes practically blinding me, which was the opposite of what I wanted it to do. As I expected, there was no signal to be had, but that wasn't what I wanted it for. Turning the phone's screen away from me I shined it around the new area I was in, I was in what looked to be cave made of cement, wood, and glass. I was in the fucking debris of the collapsed hotel! Aiming my phone up I found a large steel I-beam above me, easily holding up thousands of pound of rubble, thank the lord that was there to save me! If not I would be a pancake, giving a nervous chuckle I stood up, keeping a hand pressed on my side trying and to ignore the constant pain. I didn't really see any sort of light besides that small crack in the wall down over by where the doors should be.

And then I heard it, a noise that managed to sneak its way into my sanctum of debris. A voice that was melodic. And laughing...

What the Hell? I looked around the almost pitch blackness, another round of laughter caught my ear. It was coming from the hole in the wall, pulling myself towards the hole I brought my eye up to it and peeked through. I could see Saint Catharine's Park. But the most things that I caught was there was ponies everywhere, all were scattered around the small park. They were all chatting and laughing with each other. How was I going to escape! Was the next thought that came to my mind, looking around the rubble I found a metal pipe the tip of it flattened by the incredible force that was dropped upon it. Retrieving the pipe was a bit difficult due to it being crushed under some debris, after a good ten minutes I managed to wriggle it free without causing too much noise. Panting, I sat back up against the wall leaning my head up against the opening; I heard two distinct voices approach the destroyed hotel. One male and the other female,

"Wow..." said the female voice. "Did that flier really cause all this damage?"

"Heh... I am surprised the birds were able to take it down," the male voice said.

"Sapphire!,Falenix! You're supposed to be scouting the area in case the routed demons return!"

"Yes, Commander Kuntchra, deeply sorry," Kuntchra! That was the ape from back the hospital! Leaning over I peeked through the small hole, seeing two ponies dressed up in poor excuses of armor. Most of it looked like trashcan lids bent and beaten flat, while the bigger creatures wore pieces of car paneling. One was blue and the other was a dark shade of green, both were looking at a large silverback gorilla, a chillingly familiar brute that had a large makeshift metal spear strapped to his back.

"You do not need to apologize," the large ape said, as he himself seemed to be slightly mesmerized by the crashed helicopter and the carnage it had wrought. "Just go do your jobs, the elementals tell us that we need to move on the human encampment by dawn. Only after we drive them from the city can we unite with the others and prepare for the next push against their armies."

I heard a gasp from the female pony. "But-but Commander Kuntchra, that's suicide! We barely even won the last skirmish!" The gorilla growled and pounded the ground with his huge right fist.

"Do not question me, young one, these are not my commands, but commands from on high!" he snapped, the female pony flinched and took a few steps back. Kuntchra sighed and began to amble back towards their own camp, mumbling to himself frustrated. Moments later the two ponies shared an uneasy glance and walked away, sighing I stepped away from the wall.

Looking back at the metal pipe I began to inspect it, seeing that the other edge of it was flattened due to being crushed. I began to think, I could possibly use this as a shovel and dig my way out of here... Okay that's a fucking stupid idea! I can't dig through concrete! I sighed and sat back on the ground wincing I clutched my side. My wound was getting worse and I was getting weaker, I needed to figure out how to patch myself up...

Thinking back to the old shows I use to watch on television about how to survive in the wild, I stripped off my jacket and took off my white work polo. Ripping the sleeve off the shirt I took the torn piece and brought it down to my wound. Gritting my teeth I wrapped the torn sleeve around the wound, instantly drenching the sleeve in blood turning it from a bright white to a dark red. Holding back the scream not wanting to attract some unwanted attention, I finished wrapping my wound.

Taking two aspirins after I finished, I laid my head back against the wall of debris breathing heavily, I passed out.

:[-]:

I was laying in a open field, the sky was clear and the sun shined brightly in the sky. The field was filled with flowers of all kinds of colors and beauty, the birds chirped and the bees buzzed. Everything was so peaceful and tranquil; I smiled while climbing to my feet. I stretched out my refreshed limbs, and I noticed I didn't have my nasty wound and my clothes seemed to have been restored. I looked to my left, on the horizon; at the top of a hill was a lone oak tree. It was full of luscious green leaves, and the view looked wonderful and inviting. I began to approach the tree, walking through the nice tall grass and slowly ascending the hill.

In the distance I heard the laughter of children; I stopped dead in my tracks looking around for the sound. I couldn't see anything, save for the open field that seemed to stretch for miles until ending upon a forest in the distance, and beyond them, a cool stretch of rolling mountains. Shaking my head I turned my attention back towards the tree.

The thick bark of the oak felt rough under my fingers, and even in this surreal place, the tree seemed to exude an aura of power, of majesty, and of life.

But something was wrong, the tree's leaves began to change colors, they went from green to orange and then to sickly yellow, then withered to black. Can leaves go black!? They then one by one began to fall off the branch, slowly drifting to the ground. The bark on the tree also began to change color, going from a dark brown to a nasty pale white. I touched the bark of the once mighty tree, and it crumbled into ash under the gentle brush of my fingertips. The tree was dying, all around me the grass and flowers began to wilt. The soil cracked and became dry, and the world itself seemed to succumb to the spreading poison that had felled this once eternal symbol of life. The sounds of the children I heard earlier were replaced with the sounds of crying. And the cries of the children turned to agonized screams.

And once the earth itself had been tainted by the spreading veil of death, the sky began to change in color. The pleasant and ever cheerful pale blue began to change as fingers of red tainted the sky in streaks of blood. Yet the sun wasn't setting on this land of death, a pale, distorted moon rose and shrouded the decaying world in an eclipse of silence. In the distance, I heard the sound of a horn. The same horn I heard back in the streets, and to my left I heard another horn yet this one sounded like something from a semi-truck. Turning back to face the field I saw a horrifying sight.

Two opposing armies, one army consisted of human men and women, and the other consisted of ranks upon ranks of ponies standing side by side with creatures that I could only conceive of from my wildest dreams. To my right was Man's machines; tanks, helicopters, artillery guns, anything that could be used to fight. And to my left stood the army of ponies, clad in golden armor, and wielding shining spears and swords. The creature army stared at the army of Man, their eyes full of pure determination, and that feeling was just as imprinted upon the faces of the human army. They too had the look of hatred, and with a unknown cue both armies began to charge. The tanks fired their cannons; soldiers unloaded their guns into the opposing army. And in their unrelenting volley of lead, entire ranks of creatures fell to the lifeless ground, their blood feeding the parched earth.

Ponies chucked their spears, impaling dozens of soldiers, while the others rammed into the human forces. Clashing into massive melee battle, I screamed at the two armies to stop fighting! The once peaceful field was turned into a massive battle ground. The once luscious grass was replaced with mounds of bodies and flowing rivers of blood. Craters formed in the ground due to the exploding tank shells, I continued to scream and yell, shouting for the fighting to stop. Dropping to my knees I cupped my hands over my ears, trying to shut out the sounds of battle.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I screamed, desperate for this horrendous slaughter to end. "It's just a dream, it's just a dream," I whimpered. "It's just a nightmare, that's all, it's just a nightmare!"

_A nightmare indeed._

Said a familiar female voice, a voice I knew all too well from my previous dreams. Everything stopped, literally everything just stopped. As if someone hit the pause button on their T.V remote, all the fighting stopped. Soldiers and armored ponies stopped in mid combat, their embraces of mortal combat frozen. Tank shells, missiles and bullets hovered in mid flight. And everything gone silent, opening my eyes and taking my hands off my ears, I looked around, mesmerized by the image that laid before me... pure chaos.

"Why... Why are you tormenting me with this? Why are you doing this to me?" I shouted to the frozen world.

_I do not wish to torment you, child, only to show you the truth._

"What truth? What is there to know? Why is this happening? Who are you?" I began to blurt out questions one after the other. Confused, frightened, I wanted to know the truth but what was the truth, what is this, but what was this? All these questions I wanted an answer to, yet I never got those answers. Whatever was speaking to me seemed to have left, the weird presence I seemed to have felt just moments before seemed to have vanished. Leaving me to the ungrateful sight of a battle which resumed just moments after...

What truth could be found here? Only the truth of the slaughter, of the merciless bane of life and love that glowed in the face of every soldier on this field of battle; perhaps the truth was not directly here, not in the screams of shells. But in the screams of the children that I had heard so joyously laughing what seemed like only moments ago.

And as the battle turned in the favor of the humans, as the booted feet of my kind trampled down the pitiful revolt of the creatures of the Earth, I no longer saw the faces of men, but the frenzied faces of demons reveling in their victory.

_Perhaps that was the truth._


	4. Hooverville

**Chapter 4: Hooverville**

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

_Drip..._

I tried to synchronize my blinks with each little drip in the dark, doing anything to pass the impossibly soul crushing monotony. How long had I been here, entombed in this dark and dusty place? Had it been days, weeks, or what drove me mad with indecision, had it only been mere hours? It was almost impossible to tell what day it was, or what time of the day it was. There was only one tiny shaft of light that managed to pierce through the dark, the hole that my impromptu pry bar had made. But I did not dare to get close to it, to look out into the world to try and glean even the slightest clue. If I looked out there, would there be an eye looking back one that would shout that there was a human in their midst?

I only knew that it had been long enough to where my eyes adjusted to the dark, and the sounds of the animal camp that was only a few dozen yards away trickled in through the tiny hole in the wall of debris. I knew that it had been at least five days since the crashing helicopter had sealed me in here. Or, I had fallen asleep at least five times since I became trapped. Each time I lost the battle against fatigue, there was no way of telling how long I slept. And each time I nodded off in this strange world, I found myself in an even stranger one.

Each time I entered the dreams, I was subjected to some new dreamscape that shook my core. But it was not just the nightmares that chilled me; it was the dreams as well. Sometimes I would see things that escaped even the farthest reaches of my imagination; scenes of wonder, moments of triumph, and even moments of the purest ecstasy. But they were always shown in contrast. In a single vision, I would be shown all the beauty of life in all its glory, and in the next vision, I would once again be standing in the middle of the blood stained field of battle, or seeing some terrible vision of anguish in the darkest chapters of human history.

Yet, I always felt the eyes of an unseen watcher peering at me from just out of sight. A mysterious presence that I could only see out of the corner of my eye yet vanished whenever I turned.

Even if I did not want to sleep, I still needed to eat and drink. I crawled over to the sound of the dripping water, reaching the damp puddle that had formed in a depression on the floor. I cupped my hands, bringing a mouthful of the questionable water to my cracked lips. And with my source of water drained for the time being, I dragged my aching body back to the most comfortable place in my debris-cave. My supplies of corner-store junk food had lasted as long I could stretch them, and I shoved the last of my supply of Doritos into my mouth, choking them down.

And as I lay there, in that dark and horrible place, hovering between consciousness and the horrible realities of my dreams, I wondered how much longer I could stand this. How much longer I could survive on the meager supplies of food and water, and more importantly, how much longer my mind could survive the loneliness?

:[-]:

I woke with a start, my eyes darting left and right. Why was everything dark!? My heart raced did I bleed out in my sleep!? I began to panic, to reassure myself I shifted my body pain flared. Crying out in pain I quickly clasped my hand over my mouth, remembering where I'm at. I let out a sigh of relief that no one heard me.

Slowly bringing myself to my knees I peered out the small hole in the wall, the world was dark and lifeless the moon shined high in the sky, but that wasn't what caught my attention instantly my heart was caught in my throat, the camp outside was deserted! What, that's impossible! Did they get chased out while I was asleep? No I doubt that I would've heard some gunfire or something if they did, or would I?

Thinking back to earlier it dawned on me. _"We attack the Demon encampment at dawn."_

How long was I asleep for!? I began to panic again, what if the evacuation has finished and I'm stuck here! Oh God, oh God! Pissed off I picked up the nearest object next to me I closed my eyes and bashed the wall.

Despite the pain in my side, I heard something break. Opening my eyes I looked down and saw that the hole was larger. It grew large enough to fit my fist through it, for a few seconds I glared at the hole with awe.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I began looking around my now dimly lit tomb. Finding the metal pipe I tossed to the side earlier, I flipped it so the flat tip faced the hole. Bringing my arm back I rammed the flat tip into the wall chiseling my way out...

:[-]:

I slumped back up against the wall, wincing when a snapped piece of wood jabbed me in my back. Shifting over to the right I sighed, three hours have passed and I'd only managed to knock away at least a few centimeters. More light managed to seep through the hole and into my tomb as the sun began to rise and peak over the skyscrapers. Distant gunfire could be heard followed by the sounds of what seemed to me as helicopters. Slowly my eyes began to droop, shaking myself awake I reached into my pocket. Pulling out my phone I went to check the time, pushing the power button the phone wouldn't comply except for a flashing battery on the screen with a slash through it. Right away I knew all too well I've must have been trapped down here for a while. Because last I remember my phone had at least three bars and it would-

A loud explosion knocked me onto the ground followed by a wall of fire, which engulfed the debris that encased me. Right away I began to sweat as the intense heat from the fire began to bake me alive. I need to get out of here! The cave of debris was now lit by a bright orange glow coming from the outside. The sounds of helicopter blades swooped overhead which then came another round of explosions.

Retrieving the pipe once again I began to wailing at the hole in the wall, large chunks with each slam of the pipe flew off as I slammed the wall. Smoke from the fire outside began to fill my lungs burning my insides. I choked and gagged but kept on going.

With the smoke and the fire starting to become unbearable I finally said, "Fuck it!" and dropped to my knees. Forcing my body through the tight space, my vision began to grow blurry my hands burned at the touch of the scorched concrete. I groaned in pain but kept on pulling, through the process I cried out in pain as my right leg was caught by a piece of broken glass slicing it open.

With one final push I felt myself crumple to the ground, coughing as more smoke began to choke my body. The final thing I remember before passing out though was the voice of this unknown man.

"Sergeant, we got a live one over here!"

Then the world went black...

:[-]:

Following the typical nightmare pattern, I was in a rush, speeding down the road in my station wagon. In the far distance a brightly lit cabin sat welcomingly at the top of a hill about a mile or two away. In this eternally dark and dreadful world that had become the home of all my fears and anguish, it stood as a single pinprick of light piercing through the midnight veil. I don't know why I was heading there. But in the nightmare I felt as if I needed to get there, as if my life depended on it.

My old station wagon creaked and groaned with street that it and I plowed down, searching for a way to that all-hopeful cabin on the hill. While rounding a corner that's when I saw her standing there in the middle of the road. I gasped and slammed my foot on the brake, but I was too late. The hood of the bumper smacked into the mare, hurling her back like a rag doll a few yards.

Quickly I got out of the car to check on her, I don't know why though I got out. It was as if I had no control of my body whatsoever. It felt as if my mental self was sitting back and watching my physical body through a T.V.

But despite seeing it through disembodied eyes, I could still feel the mare's soft fur under my fingers. I could smell the metallic scent of her blood as it pooled on the concrete beneath her. And I could see her eyes as they lost the spark of life, and the warmth of her body as it escaped into this realm of nightmares.

I let out a guilty breath and sat back, running my hands through my hair. Looking back at the mare I realized something. It was the same mare from the hospital and the streets, why did I keep seeing this one particular?

And more importantly, why did I feel guilty about killing her? She was the enemy, a creature that had probably taken human lives, yet it tore wounds in my heart to watch her eyes be overcast by the grey veil of death.

"Is**AAC!**"

I jolted at the sound of the invasive voice; this was nothing like the other voice I heard in my previous dreams. It's very presence seemed to rattle the dreamscape, and I cringed as it threatened to destroy everything around me. It started off normal but quickly changed and distorted like a broken record player. I couldn't make out if it was a man or a woman, but my experience in my dreams quickly told me that it definitely possessed a human quality. I quickly climbed to my feet, looking around and trying to find the bearer of the demonic voice.

Not being able to find the person or thing that spoke to me. I turned my attention back to the dead pony, looking back I yelped in fear and fell back on my behind using my legs to push myself away.

Where there had been a slowly bleeding corpse of a pony only moments before, there was now just an empty stretch of concrete.

"Isaac,**WAKE UP!**"

I scrambled back onto my feet, my heart racing; this didn't feel like an ordinary nightmare. It felt real too real; I looked around the area once more. The sea of towering skyscrapers twisted and rotted away into a forest of tall, looming trees. Their sharp and twisted branches grasped at my clothes like skeletal fingers, and a lonely breeze moaned through like the groan of a living corpse. A shadowy black fog began to blow in, swirling around my feet and leaving an icy chill wherever it touched. "Wh-what the fuck is going on!" my voice trembled.

"Isaac,**WAKE UP!**"

The demonic voice screeched once more, again threatening to rend and rift this already unstable reality. Looking up I saw a mysterious dark mass flying towards me from between the trees. Covering my head I screamed...

:[-]:

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty!" chided a familiar voice, as whoever it was shook me, my eyes snapped open. Darting left and right looking to see if that mysterious dark figure was still out there, I felt the need to run, and to hide again in the safety of the debris-cave. But a steady hand found my shoulder, and held me still. "Isaac, jeez, are you okay? You look like you've been through one hell of a trip." Calming down, I smiled when I saw the friendliest face that I would ever know.

"Speak... for yourself," I croaked with a dry, raspy voice, looking up at Kyle. It hurt to speak, my voice felt as if someone took a large sheet of sandpaper and rubbed the inside of my throat raw. Bringing a hand up to my throat I raised an eyebrow and looked at Kyle, not much had changed since the last time I saw my brother. Except for the new clothes and the bandage they had wrapped around his shoulder, he was still the mischievous guy who had plagued my younger years with wet-willies and taught me how to hit on girls.

And it was at that moment that all the damage that had been done to me seemed irrelevant, and I launched myself up from the sterile cot, wrapping my weak arms as strongly as I could around his shoulders.

Kyle smiled, giving me a pat on the back with his good arm. "Wondering what's wrong with your voice?" he asked. I nodded and slowly sank back down into the comfort of the cot. "Well the Doctor said the soldiers found you down by St. Catherine's Park. Just a stone's throw from where the military was performing some bombing runs on those bastards out there. They say you've got throat burns like a Viet Cong insurgent on the wrong end of a barrel of napalm. Well anyways," He said handing me a glass of water, which I took rather greedily and began chugging it. "Whoa! Slow down there, Flash! Don't want to drink it too fast," he said, tipping the cup back, I frowned and glanced over at Kyle. "Sorry, but anyways what I was saying was Second Lieutenant Rodriguez found you lying just outside the hotel." I nodded my head making a mental note to thank this Rodriguez fellow if I ever see him.

Taking my gaze off Kyle I glanced around the room taking in my new found surroundings. I appeared to be in a tent surrounded by cots and medical cabinets; to my right was a row of wounded soldiers. Most with bite marks and gashes, I even saw a soldier in the back getting an arrow surgically removed from his right shoulder.

"Where... Am I?" I wheezed, looking back over at Kyle, my brother smiled and stood up from my bedside.

"I'll show you," he said as he leaned down to help me up. Kyle gently grasped my side, slowly lifting me out of the bed. I awaited the imminent flash of pain from my wound, but surprisingly, my body didn't ache or flare in pain, it probably had to do though with the amount of morphine they probably pumped into me.

"Hey! What are you doing, all patients must stay in bed until cleared by the doctor," said a woman from behind us. Kyle wrapped my arm around the back of his neck. Turning towards the nurse who was just in military attire, she also wore a bandage around her forehead. Kyle raised his right hand.

"Don't worry, miss, it'll only be for a few minutes. Besides, he's taking up room that someone with a real problem could be using," he said jokingly, giving me the kind of tough time that made me look like a whiner and a hypochondriac, despite my poor condition. The nurse shook her head in protest.

"I'm sorry sir, but you need to let him down now. I just don't want to cause any problems, now please put him down." Kyle shook his head,

"I'm sorry Ms Cares, but please this is the first time in a week since I saw my brother." My eyes grew wide; I've been out for a week!? Impossible, that's just... Impossible, I rested my head in the palm of my right hand.

"Isaac, are you okay?" Kyle asked looking down at me,

"Yes... Just in... Shock," I said.

"See, Kyle he isn't stable enough to even speak yet. Now please just set him back down." Kyle rolled his eyes, carefully shifting my body to ease me back into the cot.

"Fine, just give me a sec–" The flaps of the tent flew open as four soldiers followed by three medics stormed in, carrying three stretchers which held a few wounded soldiers.

"Make some room, we got injured here!" shouted a large built African American man who held a large light machine gun. Instantly Nurse Cares snapped back into her "Zone" and got right to work.

"What's the cause of injury?" she asked, walking along side the soldiers.

"Same damn thing as always, bite wounds," said one of the medics, "We were down in the subway tunnels about an hour ago during the cleanup operation. We were unable to see what attacked us, all the lights were out and the entire area down there is pitch black. Whatever it was though it was extremely fast..." Kyle tugged me to the side, pulling me away from the conversation.

"Come on, Ike; let's go for a walk while Commandant Cares isn't looking." I looked up at Kyle, raising an eyebrow. Kyle tilted his head towards the flaps on the tent, and I nodded in understanding. To be honest, I didn't want to be cooped up in a bed all day; I'd rather take a walk around outside and get the breath of fresh air that I had been craving for a long time. But honestly, even if I didn't look like it I was actually the happiest man on the Earth right now. My brother Kyle was actually alive and well enough to be giving me that older-brother-routine, Nurse Cares was okay and she seemed to have gotten a role in being a nurse for the military right now.

"Alright Isaac, welcome," Kyle reached out and grabbed a hold of the flap pulling it out wide I was blinded by a white light, "to Hooverville." My brother held out his hand as if showing off a great marvel, seconds later my vision cleared to see a bright lit world of large green military tents. Men and women of all ages roamed freely amongst the sea of military tents, some standing around blazing barrels like the proverbial hobos that had once filled New York. Hardly any of them though looked happy, and it was a heart-wrenching sight despite the clear skies and bright sun.

It felt as if all the spirit and the fight in these people had been sucked clean, and save for the quiet murmurs and whispers I heard, everything was silent. I looked over at Kyle, confused. "You never paid attention in history class," he said in response, giving me a nudge to my sore ribs. "We're in Central Park." I raised an eyebrow, even more confused.

"I... I thought Central Park was evacuated? Like the rest of the city," I forced out, my throat was starting to lay off me and every minute it was becoming easier for me to speak.

"Well..." Kyle began but was cut off by the large African man we seen earlier come out of the tent.

"We put an end to the evacuation two days ago," the Marine said. "Ever since we found a way to sniff out the sons of bitches with a spectrum scanner that we used to use to snoop for dirty bombs, now we find those fuckers wherever they hide and blow them sky high without puttin' a boot on the ground." He took a moment to gaze out over the camp, seeming to be somehow satisfied with the way things were turning out. He turned back to my brother and I. "Name's Lieutenant Ronald Bell," he said, sticking his right hand out to me, which I firmly took.

"So I take it we're winning the battle then?" I asked, and Ronald laughed in response to my question. "Winning? Shit, did the Texas Rangers just 'win' against the Orioles? Wiped the floor with 'em is more like it, those bitches never saw us coming. Just a week ago they thought they could attack Hooverville head on, all we did is place a few omega detectors along the streets, and the main artillery would make it rain whenever a detector started chirpin'. They ran with their tails tucked between their legs."

"So you're saying you guys actually developed a scanner that can detect where each and every one of these animals are?" Kyle asked. "What, is it like thermal censoring or something?" Ronald shrugged and began walking,

"I don't know the real specs of the detectors; I'll tell you what I know while we walk." Kyle nodded and we began walking with Ronald. "The detectors have a technical name that's twenty words long or something like that. Honestly, I have no Idea how the damn things work, like I said before, soldiers on deployment in the Middle East used to use those suckers to sniff for yellow-cake uranium that terrorists were trying to use to make dirty bombs. The corporation that made 'em tried to pitch 'em as a Geiger counter a FLIR system and a spectrum analyzer all rolled into one. Couple of scientists far out west found out that these bastards have a special type of energy that just tickles the omega detectors pink. Ever since they spread the word on how to fight them, we've been kicking ass." He said as we walked out of the town of tents and into clearing that was filled with helicopters, tanks, cannons, and other weapons of destruction.

The dream about the war between the creatures and man flooded back into my mind, the face of the marine at the end of the battle flashed before my eyes every time I blinked. In the back of my head I felt a migraine begin to form, clutching my forehead, I requested that we should take a break.

Kyle sat me down right beside one of the transport helicopters. "Is everything alright with him?" Ronald asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine... Just got a real bad headache that's all," I said, running a hand through my hair.

Kyle smiled and reached back into his back pocket. "I got something to take the edge off for you." And he grinned madly as he pulled out a bottle of vicodin.

"Where the Hell did you get those?" Ronald snapped.

"Okay, I'll admit, I smuggled them from the pharmacy down the street. On the last scavenging trip," Kyle said while unscrewing the cap, he took out two tablets and handed them over to me. Ronald sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose,

"My God man do you know how pissed my superiors are going to be when they find out, that someone has been smuggling supplies." Kyle sighed and looked up at him,

"Don't worry man I only took this one, the nurse told me that Isaac might wake up soon. So just to be prepared I went and got him these. Besides, it's not like they were doing anyone any good just sitting behind some counter." I popped the two pills in my mouth, sighing I tilted my head back and rested it on the back of the chopper.

Looking around at my surroundings, it wasn't much besides the vehicles and trees. But there was one thing though that caught my attention, soldiers, dozens of them. They surrounded the distant helicopters, working in teams as they removed some black object with a large dish on the end out of a padded crate. I yawned as the powerful opiates began to work through my system, and I looked up at Ronald.

"What are they doing to those choppers?" I asked pointing over at them. Each engineer struggled to lift the heavy looking device as they bolted them to the underside of each helicopter.

"Oh them, they're mounting the omega detectors. We just got a new shipment this morning," he said. "By the way things are going; I'll bet you all of this will be over within the next week."


End file.
